Business Directories

Bahrain plans new cities to provide housing

Manama, September 13, 2011

Bahrain plans to develop three new cities to provide affordable housing across the kingdom, in a move to reduce the growing backlog of applicants each year, said a senior official.

New residential developments will be built in east of Hidd and east of Sitra, said the Housing Ministry's housing projects assistant under-secretary Sami Buhazza'a.

This is in addition to Al Madina Al Shamalia (Northern Town), consisting of 16 islands connected by bridges.

It will be home to 15,000 units, including houses, apartments and plots of land, offering commercial and social services to all residents.

The Social Housing Forum, held under the patronage of Deputy Premier Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, was attended by real estate companies from Bahrain, China, other GCC countries and Turkey

They were invited to offer their expertise and knowledge in building the projects.

The development in East Hidd is currently in its final stages of planning, with environmental studies of the area being carried out, Buhazza'a added.

'We hope that by the end of October these will be finalised and this development will be completed by 2016,' he said.

East of Hidd will offer 4,000 to 4,500 residential units, including plots of land that will be gifted to individuals by the ministry, while the east of Sitra will feature 4,000 housing units.

The units consist of two to three bedroom free-standing villas available to buy, or apartments available to buy or rent from the developers.

Buhazza'a said that there was a large backlog of applicants, with the number currently standing at 50,000.

'The number of applicants each year is increasing by around 4,000 a year for housing,' he said. 'These projects will help reduce the burden of requirements each applicant had.' – TradeArabia News Service